这对猫鼬来说至关重要
It’s vital for meerkats
有一个高度集中的哨兵随时站岗
to have a fully-focused sentinel on guard at all times.
觅食的猫鼬偶尔会抬头看一眼哨兵
Foraging meerkats glance up at the sentinel occasionally
检查它是否还在那里
to check it’s still there.
如果没有人值班，它们会很快发现
They quickly notice if no-one appears to be on duty.
蒂姆正在重新做一个实验来证明这一点
Tim is recreating an experiment to show this.
非常缓慢
Very slowly.
我们现在要挡住哨兵的视线
We are now going to block their view of the sentinel
所以它们无法看到哨兵是否在值班
so they can’t actually see whether the sentinel’s on duty.
从猫鼬群的角度来看，
From the group’s point of view,
哨兵似乎消失了
it looks as though the sentinel has vanished.
它们很担心，会做出反应
They are concerned and will react.
那边现在有新猫鼬了
There’s someone over there now
谁会代替他去站岗
who’s going up on sentinel duty to replace him.
每个猫鼬都承担着哨兵的职责，
Individuals put themselves upfor sentinel duty,
通常是在它们饱餐一顿之后
usually after they’ve had a good meal.
蒂姆通过喂食个体证明了这一点
Tim proved this by feeding individuals
再配上煮熟的鸡蛋
with extra hard boiled egg.
因此，它们愿意花更多的时间在观察上
As a result, they were happy to spend longer on watch.
哨兵仰望天空寻找威胁，
Sentinels look up at the sky for threats,
但它们也能发现危险
but they’ll also spot danger
离地面更近
closer to the ground.
作为一个团队，
And working as a group,
它们可以一起恐吓这里许多最危险的动物
they can together intimidate many of the most dangerous animals here.
即使是能杀死它们的捕食者，比如眼镜蛇
Even a predator that can kill them, such as a cobra.
它们就在攻击距离之外
They stay just out of striking distance.
最终，眼镜蛇觉得自己寡不敌众
And, eventually, the cobra feels outnumbered.
合作是它们工作的核心
Cooperation is at the heart of what they do.
每个家庭成员都扮演着重要的角色，
Every member of the family has an important role to play,
那么为什么占统治地位的雌性
so why does the dominant female
抛弃一些重要成员，比如她的女儿?
throw out some important members, such as her daughters?
旱季开始产生影响，
The dry season is beginning to bite,
而被克林奇赶出的功夫群雌性则非常绝望
and the Kung Fu females driven out by Klinky are desperate.
它们徘徊在边缘，
They hang around on the fringes,
也许是希望克林奇能容忍♥它们回来
perhaps hoping that Klinky might tolerate their return.
但她并不打算这么做
But she has no intention of doing so.
被驱逐者压力很大
The evictees are stressed.
在过去的几天里，它们的体重减轻了
Over the last few days, they’ve lost weight.
作为一个小群体，
As a small group,
它们太少了，一个人无法充当哨兵
there are too few of them for one to act as a sentinel.
当它们外出觅食时，
When they’re out foraging,
它们很容易被捕食者吃掉
they are vulnerable to being picked off by predators.
但是克林奇很坚强
But Klinky is tough.
她把被她迷住的同伴们召集在一起
She pulls together the rest of her group, who are under her spell.
没有同情的余地
There’s no room for sympathy.
赶走女儿们，
To chase away the daughters,
功夫群的战舞
the Kung Fu war dance
在一次可怕的团结展示中
in a fearsome display of solidarity.
被遗弃的人匆匆逃进沙漠，
The outcasts scurry away into the desert,
被迫重新流亡
driven back into exile.
随着蒂姆数据量的增加，
As Tim’s volume of data increased,
所以猫鼬的自然秩序
so the natural order behind the meerkats’
明显残忍♥的行为
apparently brutal behaviour
开始显现出来
began to reveal itself.
占统治地位的女性驱逐她们的女儿
Dominant females evict their daughters
当它们达到繁殖年龄——大约三岁
when they reach breeding age – around three years old.
雌性会执行这个系统
Females that enforce this system
一生中最多能养育80只幼崽
can rear up to 80 pups over the course of their lives.
一个大的群体就等于力量
And a big group equals strength
当保卫你的领土
when defending your territory.
占统治地位的雌性会走多远
The lengths to which a dominant female will go
为了控制她的女儿，保持她的权力，没有界限
to control her daughters and retain her power knows no bounds.
功夫群洞的黄昏时分
It’s dusk at the Kung Fu burrow.
经过漫长的一天，家庭的机会
After a long day, the chance for the family
培养和联♥系♥感情的机会
to groom and bond.
它们的注意力被入侵者抓住了
Their attention has been grabbed by intruders.
克林奇的弃儿们还没有放弃，
Klinky’s outcasts still haven’t given up,
它们现在正试图找到一条回家的路，
they are now trying to find a way back,
在暮色的掩护下
under cover of twilight.
克林奇已经注意到它们
Klinky has clocked them.
部落联合起来
The tribe joins together
战舞向被遗弃的人走去，
and war dance towards the outcasts,
来阻止它们
to deter them.
克林奇的女儿们又得另寻他处–
Once more, Klinky’s daughters will have to find somewhere else
来过夜
to spend the night.
克林奇把它们赶出去给它们施加压力，
Klinky has driven them out to put them under pressure,
尤其是那些可能怀孕的
especially those that may be pregnant.
在群体之外生存的压力意味着驱逐女儿
The stress of survival outside the group means evicted daughters
通常会早产产下幼崽
will often give birth to their pups prematurely.
如果克林奇偶然碰到任何活的幼崽，她会杀死它们
If Klinky chances upon any live-born young, she will kill them.
杀婴
Infanticide.
不管这看起来多么残酷，克林奇知道
However brutal this seems, Klinky knows
如果她的女儿继续怀孕，
that if any of her daughters continued their pregnancies,
它们可能会杀了她自己的孩子，
they might try to kill her own pups,
所以积极进取是值得的
so it pays to be aggressive.
将来，她的女儿们会对她有用的，
In future, her daughters will be of use to her,
但现在，它们只是个威胁
but for now, they’re nothing but a threat.
十年过去了，蒂姆和他的团队
Ten years in, Tim and his team
已经习惯的猫鼬群体数量增加到15个
had increased the number of habituated meerkat groups to 15
他们监测了整个生命历史
and they’d monitored the complete life histories
将近1000个人
of nearly 1,000 individuals.
沙漠中的一个社区已经变成了一个中心
A community in the desert had become a hub
世界级的科学活动
of world-class scientific activity.
这项研究拓展到了新的领域，
The study branched out into new areas,
包括曾在这里当学生的科学家
involving scientists who had worked here as students.
他们开始根据蒂姆之前的研究来解决问题
They started to tackle questions based on Tim’s previous research.
他最先注意到的一件事是猫鼬
One of the first things he had noticed was that meerkats
我们一直在互相交谈，
talk to each other all the time,
打了很多电♥话♥
making a huge range of calls.
这就引发了人们对他们彼此之间在说什么的疑问，
And that raised questions about what they were saying to each other,
还有那些电♥话♥是什么意思
and what the calls meant.
Marta Manser教授是苏黎世大学的生物学家
Professor Marta Manser is a research biologist at Zurich University.
她是蒂姆在这个项目上的第一个博士生
She was Tim’s first PhD student on the project.
她开始研究猫鼬的交流
She set about investigating meerkat communication
通过一系列巧妙的实验
with a series of ingenious experiments.
如果你把它放在这里，灌木丛后面
If you put it here, behind the bush.
在猫鼬从它们睡觉的洞穴里出来之前，道具已经准备好了
Props are set up before the meerkats emerge from their sleeping burrows.
活的捕食者很难使用
Live predators would be difficult to use
所以，玛尔塔选择了退而求其次的办法
so, instead, Marta chose the next best thing.
猫鼬颤音
MEERKATS TRILL
她记录下了它们的警报信♥号♥♥，并发现了猫鼬
She recorded their alarm calls and discovered the meerkats
开♥发♥了一系列的呼叫类型，一种语言，
had developed a series of calltypes, a kind of language,
来警告其他动物捕食者近在咫尺
to warn the others of how close a predator is.
它们用颤音唱
THEY TRILL
以及它是什么类型
And what type it is.
不断加剧
TRILLING INTENSIFIES
猫鼬喊叫
MEERKATS BARK
随着豺狼越来越近
As the jackal gets closer,
猫鼬认出了地面捕食者
the meerkats identify the ground predator
为紧急情况做准备
and prepare for an emergency.
玛尔塔呆了几个月
Marta spent several months
让不同的捕食者来观察它们的叫声是否不同
presenting various predators to see if the calls were different.
它们叫
THEY BARK
她甚至把一只豺狼发射到空中
She even launched a jackal into the air
看看猫鼬的叫声
to see if meerkats’ calls
区分地面和空中的捕食者
distinguish between ground and aerial predators.
那个实验的结果没有定论，
The results of that experiment were inconclusive,
但到目前为止，她的其他爆料都是引人注目的
but her other revelations to date have been remarkable.
猫鼬进化出了一套复杂的预警系统
Meerkats have evolved a complex warning system.
用颤声说
TRILLING
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